IFTTT: 27 Ways to Use This Amazing Free App That Will Make You a Happy Blogger

Many people will argue that they don’t have time to learn how to use IFTTT.

After all, you don’t have time to learn another new tool, now do you?

I beg to differ. You don’t have time not to learn how to use IFTTT.

I meant what I said, and I said what I meant (with thanks to Dr. Seuss).

Not using IFTTT will cost you precious time.

I lost 20 minutes of my day every day for years that I needlessly spent on social media promotion when I could have been automating.

IFTTT could have saved me that time and promoted my blog posts for me.

This post can’t reverse the clock, but it will prevent you from losing another precious minute.

What is IFTTT?

Today, the most successful bloggers are visible on social media sites. You might as well save yourself time promoting at those sites by using a tool that promotes your blog posts for you.

IFTTT is a free tool that connects internet services. The connections result in a cause and effect relationship. The tools interact. Once you put the connections in place, you do nothing. Therefore, IFTTT is a time-saving tool for you. You can use the IFTTT app or the website to make these connections.

These connections used to be called recipes but are now called applets.

IFTTT is both an app and a website that contains over 400 apps that you can connect that work together in a cause and effect relationship. The cause is the trigger and the effect is the action.

The acronym stands for “If This, Then That” in reference to the cause and effect relationships the tool produces. In other words, if this happens, then, that happens.

The IFTTT app work with both the iPhone and the Android.

It also posts blog posts articles from many blogging platforms to social media sites. For example, IFTTT connects WordPress, Blogger, Weebly, Tumblr, and Medium, just to name a few.

The company is located in San Francisco, California and started in 2010. Since then, millions of people have used IFTTT to automate not just social media but many aspects of their lives.

Why You Should Use IFTTT

You will save time you could spend on other activities. I have saved so much time since I started using the tool. Many of my readers know I am a teacher with papers to grade. I could not blog without it. I wouldn’t have the time.

For example, I publish at 2:00 am when I am asleep most days. The screenshot to the left shows my social share buttons. Every morning, the morning after I’d publish, for years, I’d wake up and spend twenty minutes a day clicking each of these social share buttons and posting my article to them.

I don’t want to spend twenty minutes a day when I first wake up sharing my posts on social media five times a week the day after I publish, but I thought I had no choice.

Now, my article is already on social media sites when I first wake up and has been since 2:00 am.

You might ask, “But, isn’t that what WordPress users have to Publicize for? So our posts get automatically posted to the sites we link to our WordPress blog? While it is true that the Publicize feature of WordPress will post your article to social media sites, that feature doesn’t post to all my desired social media sites. For example, at the time of this writing, my post isn’t sent to sites like Reddit. IFTTT can send it there.

Look: You can tell IFTTT is working and promoting my post about Facebook groups while I was still sleeping:

The link shortener shows you IFTTT sent my article to Twitter for me.

I am picking up traffic from Twitter since installing. I don’t know if it’s due to IFTTT putting my posts on Twitter or others sharing my work. The end result is the same and it would be pretty coincidental if the increased traffic turned out to be unrelated.

Anyone who needs a hand with social media marketing should use IFTTT. The tool is designed to automate social media.

When you sign up, you will get notified when new applets come out. In February, I received updates in an email from the company, and that’s how I found out I could have Amazon’s Alexa find my phone.

Do you desire more choices? No problem! You have a way to create your own applets in order to create more cause and effect relationships. The screenshot below shows where to click to make those connections.

The tool is user-friendly. The instructions are simple. Following them takes seconds. You don’t need to be a technical whiz to use this tool.

IFTTT is so versatile it works in both directions. For example, you could post your tweet to your Facebook page or your Facebook post to your Twitter feed.

You can make informed decisions when it comes to which applets to connect. IFTTT tells you how many people use various applets. According to a famous expression, “There is safety in numbers.” If the applet is popular, it might be worth using.

IFTTT recommends applets it thinks you will like. They are labelled “Recommended for you.”

If you want to use IFTTT but are unable to imagine applets that could be helpful to you, no problem! There are plenty of ideas for applets at the site.

You will have peace of mind. You are notified when the tool works and your articles are posted to social media. You can also click “Check now” if you want to see if your applets are working.

The screenshot shows the notifications I receive when my posts publish to my social media accounts.

IFTTT is free. Other tools may exist to automate social media scheduling, but this tool is designed for people on a shoestring budget. You definitely can’t beat the price. You can’t beat free.

How to Use IFTTT

IFTTT will recommend applets and tell you what settings to turn on in order to connect those applets.

If you want to search for applets related to blogging, just type “blogging” into the search bar.

You will receive different instructions for the different applets you want in place:

For example, when I wanted Amazon’s Alexa to find my phone, I had to sign in to Amazon and put in my phone number. I received an automated code I needed to type in. Bam! Going forward, Alexa will call me if I ask her to find my phone.

Also, when I was on Pinterest, I had to make sure the IFTTT app was connected. Click where directed if “Turn On” doesn’t work or change browsers. If it doesn’t work in Chrome, try Mozilla or a different browser.

IFTTT Applets for Bloggers:

These connections are for WordPress bloggers, but there are also more connections for bloggers on other blogging platforms.

Connections you can make:

Amazon’s Alexa to your phone Find your phone using the IFTTT trigger. You are too busy with blogging tasks to go looking for your phone!

Blog photos to Flickr Maybe someone will see your photo and offer to link to you in exchange for using your photo. Links to improve your SEO!

Check on your online reputation. You can set IFTTT to let you know when you are mentioned online.

Facebook Page Updates to Twitter.

Feedly to IFTTT Bloggers should stay up-to-date with what content is popular in their niche. Feedly is a content curation tool that helps you keep your favourite content in one place. You can connect your Feedly content feed to IFTTT.

Flipboard to Pocket Save articles you’ve curated at Flipboard to Pocket where you can read them offline.

IFTTT to Medium so your blog post articles get published on Medium, the content curation site.

Instagram photos to Dropbox

Instagram to Facebook

Instagram to Pinterest

Pinterest to Twitter

Post your tweets to Google Calendar. Blogger Sara Duggan wants her virtual assistant to schedule her tweets for her. Therefore, she uses IFTTT to post her tweets on her Google Calendar. Her assistant can see them and schedule them. You can schedule your own tweets or other people’s tweets on a recurring basis.

Twitter to Buffer. Schedule your tweets to go out from your Buffer queue.

Twitter to Pinterest

Twitter posts with a certain hashtag to Facebook

WordPress to Evernote

WordPress posts to your Facebook page

WordPress to GooglePlus

WordPress posts to LinkedIn

WordPress posts with a specific tag to LinkedIn

WordPress posts to Pinterest

WordPress posts in a specific category to a Pinterest board

WordPress to Reddit

WordPress posts to Twitter with an image

WordPress to Twitter without an image. Have IFTTT tweet your blog posts!

WordPress to Twitter with a link to your bio.

YouTube videos to your Facebook page.

IFTTT applets I use:

I put my WordPress post on one of my Pinterest boards.

IFTTT tweets my WordPress blog post.

I post my blog posts to my Facebook page Do you want your friends to see the post? Check out my latest post is the message your friends will see when your article posts to Facebook.

IFTTT mutes my phone when I’m at work.

I post my blog posts on LinkedIn.

Amazon’s Alexa will find my phone.

Flipboard sends my blog post articles to Pocket where I can read them offline.

I text my husband when I am leaving work. (I use to send an email.)

My iPhone reminders go to Google Calendar.

I post my blog photos on Flickr.

I get a notification if it will rain. (Bloggers can’t get sick, after all). I get a warning to bring an umbrella.

When Donna Merrill first heard about IFTTT’s power, she predicted it will save her a great deal of time on manual sharing.” She was right.

Conclusion

As you can see, IFTTT really is amazing.

The tool is your brand new virtual assistant. People pay social media managers steep prices to do what this tool does for free.

Today, people save time by automating. With IFTTT, you are in automation heaven.

There is no reason to manually promote your posts when you can save time (and in my case, sleep) by letting IFTTT automate your blog promotion.

The possibilities of combinations are really endless since what is a trigger (the cause) can also be the effect.

The possible connections are actually unimaginable since the company is constantly coming out with new ways to connect web services. For example, while wrapping up this post, I discovered I can get Reddit’s productivity tips delivered to a page in my Evernote. Busy bloggers could definitely benefit from productivity tips.

Let IFTTT streamline your social media scheduling as well as your life while you sleep or enjoy other activities. You can fly on autopilot.

The headline claims if you use IFTTT you will be a happy blogger. You will also be a more relaxed blogger with more time on your hands to do the activities you enjoy.

Bloggers, please share, so other content creators know the value of using IFTTT to save time by posting their articles to their social media accounts and managing many of their other activities as well.

What will you do with the time you save? Respond to commenters or create new content?

Are you already using IFTTT? What is your opinion? Can you recommend additional applets? I look forward to your views in the comments section.

Janice Wald, the author of AN INSIDER’S GUIDE TO BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL BLOG, available on Amazon.com, also can be found at Goodreads. She writes about blogging in order to help bloggers by giving step-by-step directions for content creation.